David Gordon White
- Published in print:
- 2021
- Published Online:
- September 2021
- ISBN:
- 9780226692401
- eISBN:
- 9780226715063
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226715063.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
Widely attested in Indic, Greek, and Celtic literature, mythic accounts of a fraught encounter between a hero together with a group of human “brothers” and the shape-shifting genius loci of a sylvan ...
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Widely attested in Indic, Greek, and Celtic literature, mythic accounts of a fraught encounter between a hero together with a group of human “brothers” and the shape-shifting genius loci of a sylvan lucus—either a body of placid water or a forest grove—have two principal variants. When that dæmon is male, he tests the humans with riddles that they are required to answer at the peril of their lives. When the dæmon is female, she is often cast as the sister or surrogate of the male genius loci. Overcome by the cunning, force, beauty or goodness of the hero, she betrays her brother and gives herself up, often sexually, to the hero. This latter variant frequently overlaps with Indo-European myths concerning the winning of female Sovereignty, embodied in a goddess who first appears to the hero in a horrific form and threatens his life. The former variant, in which the genius loci is male, may be reflective of an ancient ritual complex involving riddles posed by a dæmon to humans trespassing its lucus, or, as in the case of the Greco-Roman world, questions posed by humans to a dæmon oracle.Less
Widely attested in Indic, Greek, and Celtic literature, mythic accounts of a fraught encounter between a hero together with a group of human “brothers” and the shape-shifting genius loci of a sylvan lucus—either a body of placid water or a forest grove—have two principal variants. When that dæmon is male, he tests the humans with riddles that they are required to answer at the peril of their lives. When the dæmon is female, she is often cast as the sister or surrogate of the male genius loci. Overcome by the cunning, force, beauty or goodness of the hero, she betrays her brother and gives herself up, often sexually, to the hero. This latter variant frequently overlaps with Indo-European myths concerning the winning of female Sovereignty, embodied in a goddess who first appears to the hero in a horrific form and threatens his life. The former variant, in which the genius loci is male, may be reflective of an ancient ritual complex involving riddles posed by a dæmon to humans trespassing its lucus, or, as in the case of the Greco-Roman world, questions posed by humans to a dæmon oracle.